Lucha Libre AAA: Heroes Del RingReview

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I can think of better things to do with sweaty men.

By Greg Miller

For years, THQ's WWE SmackDown series has dominated the video game scene when it comes to wrestling. Folks have come along and tried to splinter the market -- TNA, Fire Pro, and so on -- but none have had the power to take the title from the undisputed champ. That's the same story with Lucha Libre AAA: Heroes Del Ring.

Here, you're given more than 30 luchadores from the "Asistencia Asesoria y Administracion" federation south of the border. If you've never heard of them, that's fine; just know that they're real wrestlers and be happy to see former WCW and ECW stars such as La Parka and Psicosis. Anyway, you choose your favorites, jump into the six-sided ring, and go at it.

Exit Theatre Mode

Sadly, there's not much positive stuff to say here. Lucha Libre isn't a bad game, but it is shallow and a bit boring. All of this starts with the gameplay itself. Lucha Libre is using an old-school setup where the face buttons are strikes and the shoulder buttons are grapples. I dig that, but the action is really slow. I'll tap the punch button a bunch of times trying to get a combo going, but my luchadore will get just one punch off. When you miss your chance to reverse a move your opponent is pulling off, you just sit there and watch the slam animation play out -- you're a spectator and have no input on the upcoming pain.

When you get the hang of everything, you'll find that your moves and taunts are rewarded with stars above your name. When these are filled in, you can pull off a finisher, which is actually pretty easy thanks to just pushing the triggers at the same time. Still, I have yet to see an amazing move polish off an opponent.

This sluggish pace wouldn't be so bad if luchadore wrestling wasn't so frickin' fast. Real luchadores are bounding all over the ring and pulling off amazing hurricanranas and moonsaults that put Evan Bourne to shame. That is not happening all that often in Lucha Libre. Here, you're using that traditional grapple system to pull off mundane throws and submissions. If you're going to take on this genre of wrestling, the action needs to be fast and impressive -- it isn't here.

Beyond the controls, there just isn't that much to do. Matches are limited to various bouts involving four people (although there is no traditional tag match). I'm talking one-on-one, one-on-three, or a fatal four-way. There's no crazy cage match and no tables to set up in the corners. There are weapons on the ground for every match -- two chairs and a florescent light bulb -- but that's about it. If you take the fight online, you can participate in the same "up-to four people" matches as well as a hair versus mask match, which sounds cool but really comes down to a cutscene tacked on at the end -- plus, not many people are playing this game online. There's a tournament mode, too, but it's just more of the same.

Zombie Clown will eat you.

There's a story mode where you choose which faction you want to be a part of and which created wrestler you want to use, but it's a disjointed affair. There's a voiceover for your character that's trying to walk you through the narrative, but it does a really poor job. You play as people that aren't your character, you get these goofy videos that are supposed to explain the culture but don't offer anything of value, and the mode itself is short. There are two paths to take, but still...

The Verdict

Lucha Libra does do stuff I like -- pounding onscreen buttons in a tug of war for submissions is cool, it's easy to do finishers, and typing out your own signs is fun -- but it's not enough to overcome its problems. The entrances are really short, the crowd noise cuts out at weird times, and the commentary is bad. The game comes off as a half-baked attempt -- not quite sure if it wants to be a parody of luchadores with its broken English commentary or if it wants to teach you about the sport with its videos.